


Tails' Adventure

by Naouma



Series: Sonic the Hedgehog Revisited [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Game Adaptation, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-06 09:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 21,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1852417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naouma/pseuds/Naouma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Battle Bird Armada invades Cocoa island, who's going to stop them from getting their hands on the shards of the Chaos Emeralds that reside there?</p><p>Enter Miles Prower, poor orphaned kit who looks up to Sonic the Hedgehog from the stories he's heard of the blue blur's defeat of the horrible Dr. Ivo Robotnik.  Thinking of his blue hero, Miles blasts into action, deciding that he needs to find the Shards before the Battle Bird Armada can get ahold of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologe

The small yellow-orange kit sighed and wiped his eyes, turning to stare angrily at the place he was forced to take lessons every day. He didn’t even understand why he had to take those lessons anyway. They were far beneath his level of understanding, and they were taking forever to get even halfway to where he was academically.

The kit stuck his tongue out at the horrible little building. He didn’t like to make a spectacle of himself like that, crying about things. It actually took a fair bit to make him that upset about anything anymore. Making fun of his twin tails however… Well, that was a sure way to make him angry. He wasn’t even sad and upset! He was just angry and frustrated, which made him cry as though he was sad.

Shaking his head, he continued on his way home. The eight-year-old kit lived by himself in his family’s old home right off the coast of Cocoa Island, one of the islands of the Delta Ocean. His parents, as far as he knew, had died long ago, leaving him to fend for himself at the age of four. He’d learned quickly what a cruel world this could be, with people giving him barely enough food to live on, let alone clothes and things for home. The other islanders, though not cruel in nature, had almost gotten him removed from his old home twice in the four years since, but he’d managed to wiggle out of their grasp both times, telling lies like that his parents were away on a really long trip.

The other islanders had eventually figured out that they shouldn’t talk about it to foreigners, and Miles had been left alone ever since to let his bright blue eyes take in everything from the different plants to his father’s robotics manuals. Since he started looking at things like that, he’d also started tinkering with the things in his father’s old lab. In the end, Miles had created a little remote-controlled robot that had become his constant companion. The only place he didn’t take his little robot buddy was to school. The teachers didn’t like it, so he was forced to leave it at home.

While thinking of what he would do when he returned to his home finally, Miles caught sight of something metallic down the beach from where his home was. It was the front end of a fortress-sized ship coming in to dock, except it wasn’t a very friendly looking ship. Miles looked at the ship a little closer for any detail he might recognize and found that it belonged to the Battle Bird Armada, a legendary army of bird-furries who roamed the seas looking for any treasure they could possibly plunder.

Without another thought, Miles ran for his little home, wanting to get there before they fully docked and started to disembark from the decks above. When he reached his little home, he rushed inside for his remote robot and some supplies, knowing that they would raid his little home very early on. While he was there, he wondered why the Battle Bird Armada would be there of all places.

“Oh no,” he said, thinking out loud. “They’ve come for the Chaos Shards.”


	2. 01: Aquamarine Memories

Sitting there with his little robot, Miles felt the memories coming on, memories of the day his mother gave him his Chaos Shard.

 

_He had been very small, but the memories were still so vivid, though he wasn’t sure if it was his mind remembering, or that of the Aquamarine shard. At the delicate age of three, Rosemary Prower decided that it was time he learned what he was going to do one day. A prominent Seer, she had known for a long time of her and Amadeus’ untimely departure from Miles’ life. She didn’t like it anymore than he would when the time came, but it couldn’t be helped._

_Miles was busy playing with one of the robotic toys his father had created for him when she interrupted. “Miles, come here for a moment.” She called to him from the other room. She heard her three-year-old abandon his toy and come racing into the living room where he screeched to a halt right in front of her._

_“What mama?” he asked. Miles had always been a smart child, learning to speak in proper sentences early on._

_“Come here.” Rosemary patted her lap, and Miles scrambled up at once. She smiled at her little boy. He was still so small, and she was about to place a heavy burden on his shoulders. “Miles, do you know what this is?” she asked him, producing a necklace with a small aquamarine shard of a gem on it. Miles stared for a few moments before nodding twice._

_“That’s a Chaos Shard, isn’t it mama? How did you get one?” the little kit stared at the Shard in absolute awe. Rosemary smiled. She’d expected him to know what it was, and it was quite a relief to know that she wouldn’t have to explain to him why it was important._

_“Yes. This is a Shard of the Aquamarine Chaos Emerald from long ago. It has been handed down in my family for a long, long time, Miles. Now I’m going to give it to you.” She said. Rosemary watched as the stunned look on her son’s face became a look of confusion._

_“Is this that thing you told me I would get for my tenth birthday?” he asked suddenly, remembering things that she’d told him weeks previously._

_“It is, but things have changed. I’m giving it to you now, because I think you understand its importance enough to handle it.” The patient woman replied, stroking the fur on her kit’s head slowly._

_“Mama?”_

_“Yes dear?”_

_“Are you and daddy going away soon?” The seemingly innocent question startled the usually calm woman. Thoughts raced through her head as she tried to think of a lie to tell her child. Then it hit her._ A lie to tell her child. _What a cruel thing to do, lying to a small child like Miles._

_Instead, she settled on the truth. “Yes, Miles. We will be leaving you soon, but it’s not forever. You will see us again, so for now you should enjoy the time you have with us.” She said, a tear rolling down her cheek. She hated to tell her young son this, but she feared what would happen if she didn’t._

_“Oh. So it will only be for a little while?” Miles asked, hope filling his big, blue eyes._

_Rosemary shook her head. “No, my son. It will be a long time before you see us again. You may even start to believe that we’re gone forever, but as long as you keep this Shard safe, you will see us again.” The reality of the words she was speaking seemed to be hitting the young kit then, and Rosemary wanted very badly to tell him that it was all just a mean joke and she didn’t mean any of it. She stopped herself and wiped the new tears from her face just as Miles started crying loudly, bringing Amadeus running in from his lab. “What’s wrong? Did he hurt himself?” he asked, alarmed by his son’s sudden outburst. Miles was an unusually quiet child, not usually crying over anything._

_“No, he’s fine.” Rosemary replied, a sad smile on her face. Amadeus realized then what she’d done and shook his head._

_“You promised you wouldn’t tell him!” he said, aggravated._

_“He asked, Amadeus. How am I supposed to lie to such an innocent child?” She held her young kit close and rocked him softly, humming a soft song to calm him._

_“You promised me!”_

_“And I promised myself a long time ago that I would never lie to him. Not if he asked me outright. I do the same for you, Amadeus.”_

_Miles, amid his parents soft argument, cried himself to sleep in his mother’s arms, not even wanting to think of what the world would be like without them._

 

Miles shook his head to shake the memories away so that he would be able to accurately pack a survival bag. He needed to get out of his home as quickly as possible if the Battle Bird Armada was really landing that close to where his home was.

That’s when the door burst open and a member of the Armada ran into the little house, blade outstretched. Miles stared for only a second before deciding it would be better to cower than fight right then. He hid beneath a tall stool behind the table in the corner of the room and shivered. It was cold in that corner, which helped him produce the look of fear that he needed to wear.

The members of the Battle Bird Armada didn’t really scare Miles, not like the commander did. This member was a lower member, judging by the marks on his jacket. He scanned the room for a moment before locking eyes on Miles, cowering in the corner. “You, kit!”

“Y-yes?” Miles barely peeked from behind his hands.

“Do you know anything about the Chaos Shard’s locations on this island?” he asked outright, not even bothering to offer torture if Miles didn’t tell him anything. This bird was obviously a lower ranking Bird for a reason, and Miles fought to hold laughter back.

“No, s-sir. N-nothing…” he said finally after pretending to give it some real thought.

The Bird didn’t ask anything else. He searched the little home briefly before leaving, seeming to have forgotten about the young, frightened kit in the corner.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Miles crawled out of his hiding place, dusted the spiders off of himself, and set about the house, finding everything he would need to survive in the wild of the island for three or four days. Then he packed up his remote robot and heads for the door, but not before a flash of blue races through his head.

“I wonder what Sonic would do in this situation?” he asked aloud, as he often spoke aloud to himself. Such was the price of living alone for four years.


	3. 02: Poloy's Forest

Miles sat and pondered about Sonic the Hedgehog for a while. He’d heard some vague stories about what happened on South Island, but no solid information about it had come his way. For all he knew, he was hero-worshiping a blue hedgehog who’d accidentally bumped into Dr. Robotnik and made him fall over, flailing his arms in the air and knocking out his own instruments. Sonic might not have done anything at all, but Miles didn’t really care. The stories and rumors gave him someone to look up to, someone to idolize, and he hadn’t had that since his parents had left him.

Miles shook his head again, to rid himself of those thoughts once more. “If Sonic really is as brave as they say, I’ll bet he’d come up with a plan. But what would it be?” The young kit thought long and hard about this, and finally came up with something that seemed like it would be suitable. “I’ll bet, if Sonic were here, he’d go out and collect all the Shards before the Armada could get them!” Miles made his decision with that idea in mind. “I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna find the Chaos Shards and protect Cocoa Island!” he said, nodding. He packed the last of what he would need into his bag and practically ran out the door.

Through a small field of tall grasses that lay right outside his back door was a forest known as Poloy’s Forest. It was a vast, lush forest on the small island, and Miles often liked to spent time in the shade of the trees there. Suddenly there was a loud explosion from somewhere inside the forest and Miles felt his jaw drop as the flames began to engulf the treetops. The birds of the island were fleeing before his very eyes, and there was nothing the little kit could do to stop that raging inferno!

“They’ll destroy the whole island that way if they keep this up!” he cried, taking off into the forest despite the fires. His Aquamarine Shard was lighting up in a way he’d never seen before, and it felt like it was telling him to go into the forest. His mother had told him long ago to trust the mysterious stone with everything if a time of danger should fall upon him, and he wasn’t about to let her down.

He plunged into Poloy’s Forest as fast as his small legs would take him, coughed a few times, and ran back out to figure out how he was supposed to breathe while he was in the forest. After a long pause and some serious thought, Miles pulled a long thin cloth from his bag. He tied it around his head, covering his nose and mouth with it, and made sure it was tight enough that it wasn’t going to fall off. Then, for added security, he took out the jug of water and doused the cloth, and the rest of himself for that matter, in it. After that, he plunged into the forest once more.

Able to breathe this time, Miles stared around eagerly, hoping for any sign of the Shard that was supposedly there. The Aquamarine Shard didn’t waver, the light it was giving off pointing him down one of the many forest paths. He followed the light carefully, very aware of his surroundings. Within the first fifteen minutes of wandering, he’d knocked two members of the Armada out cold with large rocks shot from his sling shot. After checking their pockets, he’d wandered on, continuing his search.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, a ruby twinkle caught his eye as he was walking. Unfortunately, it also caught the eye of two members of the Battle Bird Armada. The turned toward it just in time to see a small girl, a squirrel, drop from the trees and scoop it up. She jumped back up quickly, but it wasn’t fast enough, and Miles watched the two Armada members take her away.

Not wanting to lose the Shard, he followed them, keeping to shadows and the occasional bush. They emerged into a sort of camp near what Miles assumed was the heart of the forest. He watched closely, but made sure to keep himself out of sight. After all, there would be no mission if he got caught as well. They put her in a makeshift prison cell, a barbaric thing made of long branches and rope, and tie her up so she can’t get away. _‘I guess they just think the red glimmer was a piece of jewelry or something…’_ Miles though, watching as they didn’t even try to get the Shard from her.

After another few minutes of watching, Miles sighs inwardly. The girl wasn’t moving much, and he needed to get that Shard. _‘Looks like I’m off on a rescue mission! I wonder how Sonic would do that?’_ he thought, making his way, unseen, into the small camp.

There were only four members of the Armada left. From behind a bush, Miles took careful aim at the first one, letting a large rock fly when he had the Bird’s head in sight as the target. He heard the crack and crouched low again, crawling silently to another bush. When he looked out again, there were only three of them awake, the fourth one had fallen backwards off of the log he’d been sitting on. From the looks of it, and the sounds of laugher from the other two, he’d landed in a large pile of animal droppings. Miles sniggered silently before taking aim at the next one and letting lose another rock. That time, however, he didn’t get down fast enough, and the two remaining Bird’s saw him. They got up and began advancing on him, one with a hand on a horn at his side to call others if necessary.

Miles frowned at this Bird. “Really? You’re going to call back up for a little kit like me?” he said, shaking his head. In reality, he was terrified, his heart racing. He could feel the sweat in the palms of his hands too, but he had already made his decision, and he wasn’t about to back down.

The Bird he’d been mocking removed his hand from the horn, continuing to advance on Miles. “You’re right,” he said. “That would make me pretty pathetic, wouldn’t it?” This Bird was in front of the other one then, and he paused for a moment and _winked_.

Miles was taken aback by the friendly gesture. The puzzled look on his face made the second Bird pipe up. “What are you looking at with that weird expression? Daz, I think this kit’s been knocked on the head one too many times! Are you seeing the expression on his fa—“ The bird was cut off when his partner, Daz, flipped onto his hands and kicked up into his partner’s jaw, clearly knocking him unconscious.

Miles felt his jaw drop. “He’s much more suitable when he’s not flapping his beak.” Daz said, shaking his head and straightening up from the kick. Then he saw the shocked expression on Miles’ face and laughed. “You can’t honestly believe that we all wanted this senseless destruction?” he said, gesturing around to the burning forest.

Miles shook his head. “You didn’t..?” he asked a moment later.

“No. I voted for a peaceful search of the island. Or commander over ruled that though, so this is what we got stuck with.” Daz shrugged as though it didn’t matter that he’d just kicked another member of the Armada.

“So… What about this?” Miles gestured around, indicating the situation.

Daz smiled. “This is me telling you to take your squirrel and get out of here. I know she has that Shard we saw in the forest, but I really don’t care at this point. I’m done with this joke of an organization.” With that last bit of information he turned and walked back to the log he’d been sitting on.

“Thank you.” Miles said, rushing over to the girl. She was awake and staring at him through the widely-spaced bars. Miles stepped through the gap easily and pulled the gag from her mouth. “I’m going to need that Shard.” He said, looking at her questioningly, wondering where she’d hidden it. The girl frowned.

“No.” She said, sticking her nose into the air.

“I’m Miles Prower. What’s your name?” Miles asked casually as he slowly began to untie the ropes.

“Celina Freznut. I’m not giving it to you.”

“Why not?”

“How do I know you’re not with them?” she jerked her shoulder toward Daz and the unconscious Birds.

“I’m not with the Armada, but neither is Daz.”

“Prove it!”

Miles sighed and dug around in his chest fur for a moment, pulling out his Aquamarine Shard. He showed it to her very briefly before tucking it away again. Celina stared at it for a fraction of a second before he put it away, but that was enough. She sighed. “I’m still not giving it to you, but I won’t run away.” She said. Miles smiled and finished untying her rather quickly, letting her up after that.

Celina gave a sideways glance at Daz before heading out of the little camp, Miles right on her heels.

Celina was about half the size of Miles, being a small breed of squirrel. She had brilliant green eyes and dark, dark brown fur in top of which she wore a frayed pair of jean shorts and a light pink tank top. Miles kept up with her easily, but he nearly ran her over when she stopped suddenly in the middle of the trail. “What are you doing with a Chaos Shard!?” she asked suddenly, rounding on him with a blaze of furious curiosity in her eyes.

“My mother gave it to me a long time ago and told me to always protect it. You’re the first person I’ve ever shown it to.” Miles replied easily.

“You said your name is Miles Prower? Didn’t the Prower folk disappear a few years ago?”

“Yeah, my parents went away then. They didn’t tell me why, but they didn’t take me with them either.” Miles could feel the loneliness swelling inside of himself. He always felt really lonely when he thought of them leaving without him.

“You have two tails… Can I call you Tails?” Celina smiled at him. To her it seemed like an endearing thing to give someone a nickname.

Miles stared for a moment before nodding. “I guess so, though I’ve never had anyone call me that for any reason other than to mock and ridicule me for it.”

“I think it’s cool. I’ll bet if you could spin them fast enough you could fly.” Celina grinned for the first time. She had decided that she liked Tails.

Miles had never thought of that. He gave them a test twirl and found that they did actually have enough volume to lit him, but he was pretty sure it would be a while yet before he could fly with them. He’d need to build up the muscles. “You’re probably right, actually.” He said at last, returning her smile. “Are you sure I can’t hold onto that Shard though? I really think we should keep them together.”

Celina thought about that for a moment. It was both a good idea and a very bad idea, but she supposed she owed him that much for coming to rescue her at all. “Fine but you can’t go running off on your own with them. I want to protect them too!” she said, pulling the Ruby Shard out of her pocket.

“Deal.” Miles agreed, taking it from her. He pulled off his necklace with the Aquamarine Shard on it and sat down for a moment, pulling a little kit out of his pack. He used his tools to put a little hole in the Ruby Shard so that he could slip the chain of the necklace through it as well. Then he put his things away and stood back up. He stared at the two Shards for a few moments, wondering what their reaction would be when they touched. Finally, after much thought, he decided to just do it. He slipped the chain through the hole he’d made in the Ruby Shard and let them fall together.

A blinding light engulfed Miles Prower, and suddenly he was lying motionless on the ground next to his new squirrel companion.


	4. 03: Ruby Memories

_Miles found himself in a place that looked much like the center of the little village on Cocoa Island, but it was quite a bit different from what he’d become used to. The buildings all looked like new, and there were screens everywhere, depicting many things. There were robotic inventions everywhere and the entire population seemed to be twin-tailed foxes, just like Miles. There were many variations of fur color, but that didn’t change what these people were._

_As he looked over the area, Miles felt a frown fall into place on his face. The air was smokey and people were running in every direction, seemingly panicked over something. Then he could finally hear things in this strange place and what he heard sent him into panic mode himself. Looking around, he really wasn’t sure what to do. Smiling despite his fear of the raging war before him, Miles began to wonder just how accurate the writings of his little island were. Throughout school he’d been ridiculed by students and teachers alike for his twin-tails, but here it looked as though that species,_ his species _, had once made up almost the entire population of Cocoa Island. The books claimed that there had always been a variety of species there, but none of them had ever mentioned even a single twin-tail such as Miles._

_Deciding that, since he’s there, he should learn as much about the Shards as he can, he begins watching and listening for any sign or mention of them. Quite suddenly he sees a glimmer of Ruby on a kid that looks to be his own age. He follows this kid out of the town and into the woods. The kid doesn’t even look to see if there’s anyone watching as he kneels low to the ground and digs a Shard out of it._

_After that, the kit ran farther into the forest, right into the thick of battle. While Miles is avoiding arrows and knives and swords all over the place, he sees the kit get shot in the arm. Refusing to stay down, the kit stands back up, pulls the arrow out expertly, and runs on, holding a hand over the would to help staunch the bleeding. The boy races into a cave located right in Poloy’s Forest and bows deeply. “I’ve retrieved the Ruby Shard for you.” He says, handing the Shard over to an elderly twin-tail who has his hood up. Miles can’t make out any features beneath it._

_The elderly twin-tail, however, can see Miles just fine and the last thing Miles sees before the scene dissolves is an ice cold smile._

 

Miles found himself flat on his back in the very cave he had just been in. He stares around for a moment before he spots Celina. “What happened?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper from all the smoke damage.

Miles found the strength to sit up and frowned. “I was in the past I think, and I saw a boy like me give the Ruby Shard to an old man with a scary-cold smile.” He said, trying to recall everything that he’d seen. That seemed to be the only thing he could remember.

Celina frowned. “Are you sure you weren’t just dreaming? You _did_ pass out in the forest.”

“I passed out?”

“Yep. After that flash of light from the Shards connecting, you were out cold on the ground. The Armada was closing in on us after that flash too, so I dragged you here as well as I could while keeping us fairly hidden.

Miles suddenly felt very grateful for his new companion.

“Thank you very much Celina. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I had to protect the Shards somehow, and you wouldn’t let go of them no matter how hard I pulled, so I had to take you with me!”

Miles sighed. It seemed that it would take a bit longer for Celina to fully trust him. He would just have to prove himself then.


	5. 04: Volcanic Tunnel

A sudden explosion right outside their cavern shook them out of their peaceful state. Miles jumped up and collected their things from around the area while Celina picked up her own small pack and put some things into it as well. Just as they were finished, three members of the Armada raced into the cavern. The two youngsters barely had time to throw themselves behind the rocks near the back of the small cavern before the Birds were on them, armed beak and feather. Tails took one out with a well-aimed rock from the slingshot, and Celina ran around one’s ankles so fast that he got dizzy and fell over. The last one, thankfully for them, was Daz, who tripped himself and let them escape.

Celina tried to go out the front before Miles pointed out a small opening in the back of the cavern. “But that goes into the Volcanic Tunnel!” Celina complained. The Volcanic Tunnel was heated by the lava flow under the Polly Mountain, so it was very hot.

Miles felt bad for her, but knew that there wasn’t really any other way. If they left through the front, the Birds would just catch them in Poloy’s Forest. Then he’d never save the island. “Sorry Celina. We need to go there anyway.”

“Why?”

“This.” He’d just noticed it himself, so the shock on Celina’s face when she saw the way the Shards were lit up was pretty much still mirrored on Miles’ face. The two Shards were lighting up the path ahead of them, showing them the way to the nearest Shard that wasn’t them. Miles followed it without second guessing it, since he knew that was how he’d found the Ruby Shard. Celina, however, hadn’t been there for that, so she had no reason to trust it.

“That light’s gonna get us caught!” she said, glaring at it darkly.

“No it won’t. The Armada probably won’t even be down here yet.

Celina sighed and started to fan herself. “It’s _hot_ down here.” She said, looking back longingly.

“I know, but it’s not hot enough to kill us as long as we have water, so we’ll be fine for a while.” Miles began twirling his tails randomly, creating a little bit of a breeze in the stifling cavern. Celina made sure to stay behind him, where she would pick up the coolest bits of that breeze.

“What if it get’s hotter?” she asked randomly, not really caring about the answer.

“If it gets any hotter in here then we’re all going to die anyway, so it won’t matter.” Miles replied simply.

“What are you talking about?”

“The on;y way it can get hotter here is if the mountain is about to erupt. That’s when the lava would rise and flood these tunnels.”

Celina gulped. “And just how likely is this?”

“There’s only about a three percent chance, so I really doubt it’s going to happen.” Miles stopped and stared into a crack in the cavern wall, where the light from the two Shards was directing him. He frowned.

“Why did you stop?” Celina asked. “And what _is_ that light anyway?”

“I stopped because the light’s pointing this way now. And the light is the magnetic pull that the emeralds have with one another. When there are two near each other but not within two feet, they will glow. With the bigger emeralds it would be flashes. With the shards, they could actually point in the right direction because of the facets of the pieces.” Miles explained. He sat down and pulled his little robot out of his bag and placed it on the ground right next to the opening in the wall. When he was satisfied that it wasn’t going to topple over or something, he pulled the remote out of his bag as well and stood up, turning the little robot on.

Celina watched in awe. The remote for the robot was quite an advanced piece of technology. It had buttons, a directional pad and a little screen that showed Miles what the little robot was seeing. Slowly the young kit propelled the little robot into the crevice. The little robot went through easily, not getting stuck or even scraping against the wall. It went deeper and deeper into the tunnel wall and, after almost ten minutes of propelling the little robot forward through the tiny crevice, Miles decided that the Shard wasn’t in that crevice at all. As he begins to back the robot out of the hole, they hear movement in the main tunnel.

Celina puts a finger to her lips and dashes off in the direction of the strange sound. She comes back a few moments later, a smile on her face. “It’s just a robot. Actually, it’s a few. The actual members of the Armada don’t seem to be here, though I can’t say I blame them.” She said, watching as Miles resumed backing his robot out of the crevice. Once it was finally out, Miles picked it up and examined it for scratches. When he was satisfied there were none, he put his pack bak on and started down the tunnel again, the little robot following behind the two curries at his command.

Down the tunnel a bit, where Celina had seen the Armada robots, they stopped to get their bearings. Miles looked at the robots, trying to figure out how they were made. Once he’d discovered their weak points, he relayed the information to Celina. The two of them took the three robots out quietly and continued down the tunnel a bit farther, until the Shards lit up again. They were, once again, pointing directly into a crevice in the tunnel wall, so Miles guided the little robot into the crevice. Before the robot entered the hole this time, however, he extended one of it’s ‘hands’ and gave it one of the Shards from his necklace. Celina protested. “What if it breaks?”

“It won’t. And even if it does, I have a way to get it back. Besides, if it carries a Shard with it, the Shard will tell us what direction we need to go up here if the other Shard isn’t in this hole like the last one.” Miles explained his reasoning and Celina reluctantly let it go, watching the little screen on the remote closely.

Miles took the robot into the crevice carefully, watching the path and the Shard carefully. A little ways into the crevice, the Shard started giving off a more centralized glow, pointing them somewhere to the left of the robot’s position in the tunnel wall. This meant that the two curries needed to turn left at the tunnel split. With this information, Miles backed the robot back out of the crevice and they continued on through the tunnel.

“This is going to take forever.” Celina sighed.

“But at least we have my robot, otherwise you’d have to wiggle into all of these crevices.” Miles replied, a grin on his face.

“I wouldn’t do it.”

“You say that now, but if the need arose, I’m sure you’d do whatever it took to get the Shards.”

“How do you know that?”

“You said before that you wanted to protect them, and our island.”

Celina didn’t say anything after that, opting to just follow him slowly. After a few more minutes, they came to yet another crevice, which yielded the same results as the first two, though closer to the entrance. “We must be getting close…” Miles said, walking on as though it wasn’t irritating that they hadn’t yet found the Shard. Celina wanted to scream.

At the next crevice, the Shard glowed brighter than at any of the others. Miles grinned and directed the robot into the crevice, which was actually larger than any of the others. Not even two minutes into the crevice, the Shard came up on the screen of the remote. “There it is!” Miles exclaimed. Celina smiled. It looked like they would be able to leave the tunnel fairly soon after all. Miles released the arms from the remote robot and tried to grab the Shard with it. It wouldn’t take hold. “I can’t get it…” he said.

“Let me see.” Celina got right in front of the crevice to see where the robot was. “I could get in there…” she offered. Miles nodded and backed the robot out. Once it was out of the crevice, Celina sat down on the ground and pushed her way into the small space. She got back to where the Shard was fairly quickly and went to take it. At that exact moment, in the main tunnel where Miles was, a rather large Armada robot came around the corner on a patrol. It spotted Miles while he was analyzing it and started toward him. Miles determined that the weak point of the large robot was its neck, where he could see a sliver of red that looked like it might be a switch of some kind.

The young kit pulled his sling shot out as he backed away from the robot. He took aim and released a large rock at the robot. It never even came close to the spot on the robot’s neck. The large robot had put it’s arm up in defense of it’s weak point, which led Miles to believe that he was exactly right about it. But now the little kit had a problem. How was he supposed to get to it now? The slingshot, it was apparent, was absolutely useless. Long-range attacks wouldn’t reach the robot. _‘What would Sonic do?’_ the little kit thought. In response to that thought, he launched himself toward the robot, deciding that Sonic would simply get closer and try again.

The robot readied itself to attack the kit and, as it launched its assault, Miles leapt into the air and took aim with his sling shot again. He was only about two feet from his target this time, and the rock definitely made contact, knocking a dent into the metal around the red switch, but not hitting the switch. He landed and rolled to the side, the robot’s large arm slamming down in the spot he’d been in only seconds before.

Heart pounding, Miles jumped again. The robot swung toward him. Without thinking, he twitched his tails in a quick circle and sailed out of the robot’s reach, but within reach of that red switch, which he attacked with another rock. This time the rock hit spectacularly, lodging itself into the space between the metal pieces of the robot’s neck.

Miles landed and the robot collapsed in a heap just as Celina was emerging from the crevice with the Shard of the Peridot Chaos Emerald. Miles held out his hand for the Shard and Celina shook her head. “No. We should wait until we’re away from here.” She said, tucking it away in the pocket of her shorts.

Miles frowned but didn’t object. He actually thought it was a good idea.

They walked through that tunnel for what felt like hours before they came to a fork that had light at the end of it. Outside, they discovered that they had reached the base of the Polly Mountain. Miles looked around and, when he was sure there were no members of the Armada nearby, he held his hand out for the Shard again. “What about now?” he asked.

Celina smiled and pulled the Shard out of her pocket and handed it to Miles. “Sure Tails.” She said, watching him as he drilled a little hole in it just like the others. He added it to the necklace and was almost blinded by the light.


	6. 05: Peridot Memories

_Miles found himself in the Volcanic Tunnel of the distant past, though the word ‘volcanic’ wasn’t exactly what he would have used to describe it back then. It was warm, yes, but not stiflingly hot like the one from his own time. Quietly, wondering why the Shard had taken him there, Miles wandered through the tunnel. Something told him to turn right at the first split, so he did. Just a little ways down that tunnel, Miles saw evidence that the tunnels were being used as someone’s hide out. He kept going until he saw a fire, and the same kit from before lounging next to it._

_The kit, Miles can see as he approaches, is small and slender with a crystal-blue shade of fur and dark eyes. He seemed to be tending to the wound that Miles had seen him get in the previous Shard’s memory. As Miles approached, he jumped in fright and pulled a thin knife out of his boot. “Who are you and how did you find me!?” he demanded, holding the knife in front of him in a defensive position. Miles stopped at once, not wanting to frighten the kit into hurting him._

_“My name is Miles Prower… The Shard of the Peridot Chaos Emerald brought me here.” Miles replied, holding up the Shards on his necklace. The other kit stared at him for a few moments before lowering the knife._

_“The Shards brought you here? But there are only seven, and I have seen some of the ones that you possess in other places quite recently.” He said after a few seconds._

_“My Shards are from the future, like me.” Miles responded, tucking his shards into his chest fur once again._

_“From the future you say?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“Lets say I believe you. What do you want from me?” The kit stared a little too long at the place where Miles’ Shards were hidden. Miles placed a hand over the spot._

_“I… Nothing. Maybe to talk, but that’s all.”_

_“I see.” The kit stood up then and went over to a small pile of fire wood, picked a piece up, and returned to the fire, placing the piece into it._

_“I promise I’m not an enemy stalking you or something…” Miles said._

_“I know that. You’re a twin-tail.” The young kit grinned at the bewildered look on Miles’ face. “My name is Klohin.” He said at last, returning to a sitting position near the fire and gesturing for Miles to join him. Miles sat down cautiously and watched the fire for a few moments._

_“Klohin, can I ask you something?” he said at last._

_“What?”_

_“What’s going on here? I mean, I saw you last time, when you got that wound, and I saw the battle that was going on, and the textbooks of my time talk about this war, but it doesn’t mention twin-tails anywhere. As far as the people in my time are concerned, I’m a freak and I don’t belong.” Miles frowned and looked at Klohin, who was frowning as well, though looking into the fire._

_“Miles, this island is ruled by twin-tails. It’s part of our way of life here. I don’t understand where they all went in your time, but trust me, you are as natural as anyone else. This war… It’s between the twin-tails and the invaders from the mainland. They decided about a year ago to take over this island, only they didn’t count on us being a technologically advanced society. I’m sure you noticed that we have a lot of technology here. That’s actually not because this place is run by twin-tails… That’s because… Well, I actually don’t know if I should tell you why that is, since you’re from the future. Isn’t this meddling anyway?” Klohin looked at Miles then, searching for an answer._

_“It is, a little, but I don’t see what harm information can do as long as I don’t use it in any kind of bad way.” Miles shrugged and turned his attention to the fire. “Besides, there are plenty of people in my life who don’t tell me the truth about things, and I would hate to have to add you to that list. Especially since you have no reason not to trust me.”_

_“Miles, we’re a technologically advanced society because of your family. The Prower line is where all of our advances come from.” That made Miles look at Klohin again, shock plain on his face._

_“What?” he said, not quite believing what he’d heard._

_“Your family gives the twin-tails their technology.” Klohin repeated. Miles stared at him for a long moment before deciding that he believed him._

_“Doesn’t that make them really important or something?” he asked._

_“It does. The Prowers hold the most prestige among us twin-tails. Unfortunately the mainlanders figured out where all of our technology comes from in the last month. They besieged the Prower estate and burned it to the ground. No one’s seen any of the Prowers since, except they have.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“The head of the Prower family… he cut off one of his tails and used the Shard in his possession to heal the scar away. Everyone has seen him, but no one knows it’s him.” Klohin sighed. “It makes since though, if you think about it. If the whole family did that, then they look like a bunch of peaceful mainlanders here, and that’s not unusual at all. We had a few different families from the mainland before they came to take over.”_

_Miles thought about it for a moment. It did make a lot of sense, he decided. “They can still help this way. By keeping their identities unknown they’re keeping your technology safe.” He said after a moment. Klohin smiled at him and nodded._

_“Exactly. I was thinking the same thing.” Klohin shook his head. “Anyway, this war began because the Prower line wouldn’t give the mainlanders the technology they needed to beat the island natives. Officially, it’s only been going on for three weeks. That’s when the official declaration came in. Off the records, this battle has been going on for almost five years. That’s why I’m collecting the Shards for Master Ghonis. He’ll put an end to the war.”_

_The name sounded very familiar to Miles. He was fairly certain that ‘Ghonis’ was the name of the hero of the Dead War that the textbooks talked about. Even with that in his mind, Miles got this really bad feeling when he thought of the kit before him collecting the Shards for this Master Ghonis. He got an even worse feeling when he thought of Ghonis using them for anything. Especially if Ghonis was the elderly twin-tail from before._

_“Miles?” Klohin waved a hand in front of the yellow-orange kit’s face. Miles jumped._

_“What?” he asked, calming his heart again._

_“You said something about collecting the Shards again in your time? What’s going on?” Klohin asked._

_“Well, a bunch of pirates called the Battle Bird Armada decided to destroy the island looking for the Shards, thinking that they were the actual Chaos Emeralds. I already had the Aquamarine, and no one else was doing anything about it except my friend Celina Freznut, so I decided that I should collect the Shards and throw these battle birds off the island.” Miles gave him a very short version of the events of his own time. He expected Klohin to laugh and ask if that was all. Instead, the blue kit’s eyes widened and he turned his gaze to the fire again._

_“This changes things…” he muttered just as the scene before Miles was fading away._

 

_‘What exactly does it change?’_ Miles thought, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Looking around he decided that Celina had chosen one of the small caverns that they’d been near as a place to hide that time. “You really seem to like caves.” He said, his gaze coming to a halt on Celina, who was at the mouth of the cave.

“Oh hush.” She said, shaking her head. She walked over and sat down next to Miles. “Did you get any more of the story this time, Tails?” she asked.

“Yeah. I actually spoke with a kit named Klohin.” He smiled at her look of shock and recounted the story of the Dead war’s origins.

“You know what I think?” Celina watched him closely. When he prompted her to go on she continued. “I think you may actually be going into the memories of the Chaos Emerald Shards. Actually, it wouldn’t be that far fetched for them to really be taking you to the past for a few moments. And each visit seems to be longer than the last, right? Maybe that’s because each time you have another Shard and, thus, more power for the memory to draw on.”

Miles thought about this for a moment before nodding. “That actually makes a whole lot of sense. And if I wasn’t actually going to the past each time, how would I be able to interact with people like Klohin?” he said. Celina just nodded and took a drink out of the water jug from Miles’ bag.

A sudden explosion made her dump water all down her front. She squealed because it was cold and then clamped a hand over her mouth, signaling an apology to Miles, who was on his way to the entrance to see how close it was.

He looked around and saw smoke rising out of the small wooded area that was to the right of the small cave. He returned rather quickly to help Celina pack up their things so they could leave before the Armada got there.


	7. 06: High Polly Mountain

Once they were done packing up the few belongings they had brought with them, Miles insisted on looking around outside for the Armada before they both actually left. He went outside the little cave and stood there for a moment, trying to think of the best possible way for him to see their location without them seeing him. Finally he decided what he was going to do.

A quick look around told him that the only person watching him was Celina. He took a deep breath and spun his two tails like a propeller. He’d done it before, but he’d never had the energy to keep it up very long, so he’d never been sure if it would actually lift him off the ground or not. He had three Shards though, and he could feel the difference in his energy then versus his energy without them. After a few moments of cautious wondering he felt himself begin lifting off of the ground. A look of shock crossed his face for a moment before he regained control of that. Miles angled himself so that he would fly straight up to look around and floated to a place just above the trees that surrounded the learning with the cave. He looked around and saw that the explosion they’d heard had actually been right next to the wall where their cave was, but a little down the right side. There didn’t seem to be any Armada members in the area, so he signaled down to Celina that she could come out.

When he landed, Celina was staring at him. “I didn’t know that would actually work!” she said.

“So you were just making fun of me when you suggested it?” Miles replied, a grin on his face.

“No. I just thought it might be possible someday. Not so soon!”

Miles laughed. “It’s only because of the Shards.” He said.

“Still! More reason to call you Tails!” Celina grinned.

Miles looked up toward the mountain, which was where they were going next. “This changes things, you know,” he said, looking at Celina. She was so small he was almost positive he could carry her while flying like that.

“What do you mean?” she asked, thoughts not going in the same direction.

“We can fly up the mountain now instead of having to hike all the way up.” Miles said simply.

“Are you sure you can carry me?”

“Celina, no offense, but you’re tiny.”

“True.”

“Alright, put your pack on and give me your hands.”

Celina did as Miles told her and he wrapped his hands around her forearms. She did the same to his and off they flew! Miles flew them up and over the wooded area, toward the Polly Mountain, where he suspected the next Shard would be hidden. Once they were in the high peaks of the mountains, they landed.

Celina scurried off to survey the area and reported back almost immediately. “There are a lot of Birds here Tails.” She said.

Miles frowned. He’d expected that, but it was still obnoxious. “I figured there would be. I’ll bet that means we’re on the right track though, and there’s definitely a Shard up here!” he replied.

“Probably.” Celina agreed.

Miles grinned and started walking farther up the mountain. They’d landed pretty high, but he didn’t want to risk missing the Shard by flying too high. Suddenly a pinkish glare caught his eye at the very peak of the nearest mountain. Celina saw it too and nudged him in the side. “Tails, look at that!” she said.

“Yeah. Do you think that’s it?”

“Probably. I’ll bet there are a lot of Birds between here and there though.” Celina shivered at the thought of being captured again. Miles frowned, thinking about the same thing. It wasn’t likely that they would end up in the care of Daz again.

“What do you want to do?” he asked. Celina seemed to be the one with all the good ideas as far as how to proceed. She stared around for a moment before shaking her head.

“Nothing. We’ll keep going for now. I mean, we know exactly where the Shard is, right? So there’s no reason to wordy until we have to.” She said, beginning to walk. Miles followed her.

The two of them made their way up the mountain slowly, making sure to check every step of the way for members of the Armada that might want to stop them. Miles saw a few here and there, but none of them noticed the two small curries making their way up the mountain, so he didn’t say anything to Celina. After a fair bit of hiking though, the crowds of the Armada grew too think for them to proceed together. “Tails, I think we should split up. You fly to the Shard and I’ll stay down here to distract the Armada if I need to.” Miles thought about the suggestion for a moment before agreeing to it.

“Okay. Where should we meet if we get separated?” he said.

Celina thought for a moment. “Do you remember where the cave is that I took you to when you passed out in the forest?”

“Yeah?”

“Then we’ll meet there if we ever get separated.”

“Okay.”

 

Miles flew above the clouds after surveying the area to make sure he knew where he was going. He didn’t want the Armada to see him and the clouds were the best cover he could think of. He also knew he would have the energy he needed to fly so high because of the Shards they’d already collected.

The Shards, meanwhile, glowed simultaneously, leading him in the direction of the peak that held the next one. As soon as they said he was right above it, he plummeted through the cloud cover as fast as he could and landed on the mountain. Grinning, he saw that he’d landed right next to the Shard, which he picked up and drilled a hole in. Then he added it to his necklace. The resulting flash was blinding, and his last thought before the Shard flew him into the past was of how stupid he had just been.

 

Celina, meanwhile, made her way up the mountain through the treetops. They offered her support where they would send others plummeting toward the ground. Every time she came across another member of the Armada she made sure to toss something down on his or her head, just because she knew they’d never see her in the upper reaches of the trees.

After a little bit she makes it to the very edge of the wooded area of the mountain. Unable to go any farther, she turns her gaze sky ward, where she spots Miles dropping below the cloud cover so fast the Birds didn’t have a chance of seeing him.

Spread out before her was a massiveBird camp, a makeshift little building at its center. It probably had a generator and computers and things inside it. She grinned, wondering what kind of havoc she could wreak with a computer. Then she caught sight of the same white flash that all the Birds saw. “You idiot!” she muttered, watching as the Birds swarmed up the mountain.

As soon as they were all out of the camp, Celina hopped out of the trees and headed into the building. She ran right into the center room and found a computer there, just like she’d thought. Quickly she typed in the only command she knew that worked on any computer with a speaker system. A really loud alarm started, and she knew the Birds could hear it. She ran back outside and, sure enough, they were all swarming back toward the base as fast as they could.

Celina, happy with her job, disappeared into the trees.


	8. 07: Amethyst Memories

_The Amethyst Shard took Miles right back to the mountain, though not at the exact same location where he collected the Shard. He looked around for just a few moments and saw Klohin flying up the mountain just as he had not so very long ago. A grin on his face, he waved to the light-hued kit, who landed next to him a few moments later. “What are you doing way up here?” Klohin asked, staring at Miles like he’d never seen him before._

_“I collected another Shard in my time. It seems that every time I get another one, I get more of their past as well. It’s like they’re trying to tell me a story…” Miles replied, watching Klohin carefully. He wasn’t sure why, but he had the feeling that he really shouldn’t trust Klohin completely._

_Klohin pondered this for a little bit before shaking his head. “Where was it?” he asked._

_“The peak of the mountain.”_

_“I suppose that makes sense. To add to that, I can relate. That’s supposedly where my next Shard is as well.” With that, Klohin jumped up into the sky again and headed for the peak._

_Miles followed him, a few more questions about the war surfacing in his mind. “So, in my time, this war is called the Dead War. Do you have any idea why they would name it that?” he asked, flying right behind Klohin._

_Klohin dropped a few feet, like he was surprised by Miles’ presence. He caught himself and landed a few feet farther up the mountain. “I don’t really know.” He said after a few seconds too long. He seemed to know a great deal more than than he was telling Miles._

_Miles frowned, landing next to him. “There’s nothing you can tell me, is there?” he asked. He already knew the answer, but he figured he should ask anyway._

_“No. I can’t tell you any more about the war than I told you the last time we spoke. For that matter, I don’t think I’m even supposed to be talking with you at all. Master Ghonis was quite angry when I told him about you. He says that you’re here to ruin everything he’s working for.” Klohin sighed and shook his head. “I like you though, so I’m not just going to refuse to speak to you.”_

_“You didn’t expect me to know how to fly, did you? I saw you lose your concentration for a moment.” Miles grinned. Klohin smiled._

_“No, I didn’t expect it at all with the way you spoke about your time before. You told me that you were the only twin-tail left, so I figured no one had ever shown you. With all of that in mind, I didn’t think you would have the strength anyway, but the Shards help with that, don’t they?”_

_“They do. Quite a bit, actually.”_

_Klohin took off again, heading once again for the peak. “Miles, I want you to know that I”m not a bad person, okay? I really don’t even believe in what he’s doing. It’s not right, I know that much, and I won’t stand for it.”_

_“Why are you helping him then?” Miles was right behind the blue kit again._

_“It’s the only way to be close enough to do anything about the situation at hand. Lord Prower understands that and is willing to help me as much as he can, which is how I’m finding the Shards in the first place. He gave me this one.” Klohin held up the Aquamarine Shard of the past to show Miles, who frowned._

_“My mother gave me mine when I was really young. She told me it had been in her family for a long time.” He said, sighing deeply. He really did miss his parents._

_“Oh? The Aquamarine Shard? Are you sure?”_

_“Yeah. That’s the one she gave me.”_

_“That Shard belongs to the Prower family. It’s the only one that has an official seal and everything, so if it was really hers, there should be an official document in your house that defers ownership to your mother. And she probably wrote up one for you to sign when you came of age. Maybe you should check it out?” Klohin shrugged._

_“Maybe… I’ve never seen anything like that though, and I’ve lived alone in that house for four years.” Miles shook his head. It just didn’t make any sense._

_“I don’t know what else to tell you. Lord Prower has the documents for it. I’ve seen them.”_

_“No, I believe you… I just don’t know what it means.” Miles, more than anything, wanted to believe that his mother had been telling him the truth. If she hadn’t been, then how could he trust that they were still alive? It tested his trust in everything she’d ever told him._

_“You want to believe your mother, don’t you?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Then do. It’s not like anything I tell you should change your faith in your mother.”_

_Miles smiled. “Thanks, I guess. That makes a lot of sense.”_

_“You’re welcome.” Klohin smiled back and the scene faded away._

 

Miles woke up on the peak of the mountain. The sounds of a mob could be heard below and, as he looked down, he found out why. There was a huge mob of Birds coming up the mountain after him! Immediately miles hid behind a huge rock. Right as he was getting settled in, ready to stay there for a long time, an alarm came on down in the Armada’s camp. All of the Birds stopped immediately and turned back around, heading back down the mountain toward their camp.

Miles, knowing that the person behind the alarm had to be Celina, followed the mob of Birds down the mountain a ways, getting to the edge of the camp and not going any farther. He grinned at the chaos that Celina had caused to keep him out of trouble. He watched the chaos unfold for a little bit before getting bored of it and deciding that he needed to go find Celina.

Just as he was about to fly away, something around the log he was hiding behind caught his eye. “Is that…?” he muttered, staring at it. He picked it up and looked it over, a big grin spreading across his face. Without hesitation he took off into the sky, this new thing with him, and headed off to find Celina.


	9. 08: The Submarine

Miles gave up after a few minutes of fruitless searching and headed toward the cavern just off Poloy’s Forest. There he saw signs of life and, sure enough, when he entered the little cave, Celina was there waiting for him. “Oh good! I was really hoping that alarm would keep them away for long enough you could get away!” she said, flinging herself at Miles and hugging him as tightly as her little frame would allow.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking up there.” Miles replied, hugging her as well. He was very happy that she was okay.

“ _That’s_ obvious! Tails, you idiot!” Very suddenly she pushed the kit, who stumbled backward into the wall of the cave.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized again.

“Did you at least learn anything new?”

“Not really. Klohin can’t seem to tell me anything else. I mean, I’m sure he could if he wanted to, but he’s hiding something. All he would tell me is that he doesn’t like whatever plan it is that Ghonis has and he won’t stand for it.” Miles shook his head. He really just didn’t understand all of it, though it was clearly important. Why would the Shards be showing him if it wasn’t important? More than that though, he wanted to search his parent’s documents to see if there was anything about the Aquamarine Shard there. If there was, it would prove that Klohin was real and the Shards were leading Miles to something important. If there wasn’t, he’d be able to trust what his mother had told him again. Either option was good, but he really wasn’t sure which one he preferred.

“But he’s helping Ghonis? Speaking of Ghonis, isn’t that the name of the great hero of the Dead War?” Celina pulled a book out of her pack. In fact, it was the history book from the school. She opened it to the index and looked up Ghonis’ name. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. So then, why doesn’t this Klohin kit like his plan?” Celina shook her head, closing the book and putting it back into her pack.

“Because the history books lie.” Miles answered. “I told you before, the past that I’m going to is filled with twin-tails like me. The history books of our time don’t say anything about my species.”

“That’s true… How do we know the Shards aren’t showing you false images though?”

“We don’t unless I can prove it.”

“And how are you supposed to do that?”

“Celina, we’re going over to Green Island next, okay?”

“Yeah—wait. How are we supposed to get there? We’d need a submarine, which we don’t have.”

“I do have one.” Miles grinned at the look of shock on Celina’s face. “Just trust me. Come on.” He said, heading outside again. Celina followed him quickly, shaking her head.

“Whatever you say Tails, but I’ll bet you don’t have one anymore.”

“Celina, they couldn’t find the room it’s hidden in if they tore down my house.” Miles grinned and led the way back to his house.

When they arrived the first thing they saw was that the front door had been broken down. Miles sighed. “What a mess!” he said, entering his house and seeing the scattered belongings.

“Wow. Yeah, you definitely don’t have a submarine anymore.” Celina said, shaking her head and laughing softly.

Inside the house, things were strewn about in a completely disorganized fashion. The desk was in pieces, the secret compartment spilling open to reveal some important paperwork that kept the people of the island from taking the house from Miles. The bookshelves had been toppled, books littering the floor. The couch had holed ripped into it, and every trinket that looked to be of any value was gone.

Miles ignored the mess, walking through like he didn’t care. He went through the kitchen, which had been treated the same way, and into his parents old bedroom, which had also been ransacked. He smiled, seeing the room thrown around. “I told you they wouldn’t find it.” He said as Celina entered the room.

“What are you talking about? This place is trashed!” she replied, looking around. Then she saw Miles, who was tugging at a thin chain that seemed to be attached to the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Help me.” Miles didn’t even look up, still tugging on the chain. Celina walked over and wrapped her own hands around the chain. Together they pulled open the trap door. Once it was open, Miles sat down to the side and put his feet into the opening. “This used to be hidden under my parent’s old bed. It was chained to the bed frame, and you had to move the bed a specific way to open it. Those impatient Birds didn’t even see the chain, which was also designed to break if it was moved the wrong way.” He said confidently.

“Tails, you’re insane.” Celina shook her head as Miles disappeared down the hole.

“Come on!” he called back up. Celina stared at the hole for a moment, looked into it, and then jumped down. She landed with a roll and stood up to examine the room she had fallen into.

It looked like a small library, bookshelves lining the walls and full, a desk strewn with all sorts of papers and the like, and a door at the other end of the room. Miles was at the desk already, searching the drawers for something. In the upper right drawer he found what he was looking for—a thin chain. He pulled on it and a secret compartment popped open along the bottom of the desk. He pulled the papers out of this compartment and placed them on top, moving other papers aside. “I never thought to check this one before now…” he muttered to himself, leafing through the old looking papers from the secret compartment. He pulled one out a few seconds later. The paper looked like it was a lot older than some of the others. Miles stared at it for a moment, a look of absolute bewilderment on his face. Celina took the opportunity to sneak in behind him and read what the paper said.

“He was right.” Miles said suddenly, tucking the paper back into the stack and putting them all back into the secret compartment.

“What was it?” Celina asked. She hadn’t gotten a chance to read any of what the paper had said.

“It was a document giving ownership of the Aquamarine Shard to my father.”

After a brief moment of silent shock, Celina spoke. “How did you know it was here?”

“Klohin told me that the Aquamarine Shard was given to the head of the Prower line. He said there should be documentation of it.” Miles seemed to be thinking.

“But?” Celina guessed he had more to say, so she prompted him to continue.

“But the Prower line was a prominent _twin-tail_ family. My father only had one tail. So did my mother.” Miles thought about it for a few more minutes before shaking his head, clearing away the thoughts of his parents once again. “Come on.” He said, leading Celina through the door on the other side of the room. The next room was a workshop with another door at the opposite side. Through that door was a small cavern off of Lake Rocky, where Miles kept the Sea Fox, his submarine.

“Wow! You really do have one!” Celina said, running over to it eagerly. “I thought for sure they would have stolen it!”

“Yeah…” Miles sighed and pulled the piece he’d found at the Armada camp out of his pack. He set to work then, grabbing tools from his workshop and attaching the new piece to his submarine.

“What is that?” Celina asked, watching him.

“It’s a weapons system for a submarine.” Miles grinned. “I found it back on the mountain.”

Celina burst into laughter. “Those idiots just left something like that lying around!?”

“Yeah. I’d been meaning to make one for it anyway, but why not use something already made? It bothers me though… This system is made exactly like I would have made it.” Sighing, Miles opened a panel on the front of the submarine and poked a pointed tool around a bit. When he seemed to be done with that, ha crawled into the submarine. Then he came back out, poked around a bit more and replaced the panel. “Okay, it’s ready.” He said.

“Great, let’s go!” Celina replied, a grin on her face. She climbed into the submarine easily, her small stature making it a cinch to get in and out of small spaces like the submarine.

Miles climbed in next and closed the hatch. He headed for the control room and turned the submarine on, a look of concentration on his face. He checked the screen to see if it was okay or not and, after deciding that it was fine, he hit the button that said ‘launch’. With a great lurch, the submarine sank below the surface of the water. Celina was plastered to a window, staring out into the lake to see the kinds of creatures that lived there.

“You’ve never been underwater before?” Miles asked.

“No, never.” Celina replied, not once taking her eyes off of the window.

“You’ll love this, as long as you’re not scared.”

“Nope. Water doesn’t scare me.” Celina grinned as they started moving forward. She’d wanted to do this kind of thing her whole life, but her parents had always been scared that she was going to drown. Her parents couldn’t stop her this time, or ever again. Wiping a few tears from her face, Celina put her excited face back on and stared out the window all the way to Green Island.


	10. 09: Silver Memories

When they arrived on Green Island at last, Celina still glued to the window, Miles let the Sea Fox float in the water just off the coast. Celina hopped right out and swam as fast as possible to land. She didn’t like water very much, and Miles laughed as she shook herself off, throwing water everywhere. She glared at him when he simply flew the gap between the submarine and the land. “What? You didn’t ask.” He said simply when he landed easily beside her.

“You suck.” She replied, walking off toward the forest.

Green island was just that, green. There was so much greenery that Miles was starting to wonder if they would even be able to find a Shard in all the nature. “Don’t you think this is weird?” Celina asked suddenly, looking around.

“What?” Miles replied, not quite sure what she was talking about.

“The Armada doesn’t seem to be here.”

Miles looked around them at the small island, his eyes wide for any sign of the Armada. “You’re right. I don’t think they’ve been here at all.” He said finally, not seeing tracks or fires or any of the telltale signs. “I guess we should start looking?” he said, pulling his necklace out of his chest fur. The little Shards were all pointing him forward, so he started walking. Celina followed him eagerly.

Miles followed the path the little Shards were leading him on and the two young furries ended up in the densest part of the forest, where the trees were almost too close together to get around. After wrestling their way through the thick trees for an hour or more, they came into a clearing. Celina sprawled out in the grass at once. Miles was more interested in where his Shards were leading him to, so he followed their guidance into the very center of the clearing, where they indicated he was right on top of it.

Frowning, Miles got down on his hands and knees. The glow intensified. _‘It’s underground…’_ he thought, beginning to dig. Celina joined him a moment later and about a foot into the ground they saw a glint of silver. Miles pulled it out with some effort and sat back to stare at the fruits of his labor. “It’s pretty.” Celina said, staring at the Silver Shard. She’d never seen something in such a beautiful color before.

Miles nodded. “It is.” He agreed. Silently, letting Celina continue to stare at the Shard, he pulled his tools out of his pack and got to work. Once the little hole was drilled into the Silver Shard, Miles took off his necklace and attached the new Shard easily. Then he put it back on and let the Shards touch.

 

_Miles found himself right in the middle of the forest, just like he was in the present time, but this forest was different. It was a part of Poloy’s Forest that he’d never seen before. Looking around, Miles caught sight of someone walking toward him. It was Klohin._

_Not wanting the other kit to have the chance to lie to him again, Miles hid in the ferns and bushes and watched as the blue colored kit passed him. Once Klohin was a little ahead, Miles pulled himself from the ferns and followed him, wondering where he was going in such a secretive manner._

_Miles followed him through the forest for quite some time, waiting patiently to see where they were going. T long last they came to the set of caves that he and Celina had found and hid inside. Klohin ducked into one and Miles followed. Klohin maneuvered the caves expertly, taking Miles into a cavern far into the cliff that he’d never known about._

_Before they entered, Miles could see the glow cast by a fire inside the little space. He sank behind a rock just inside of the little room-like cave and listened from there._

_Klohin approached a twin-tail in a long, dark cloak and bowed to him as he turned around. It was, to Miles’ surprise, the same elderly man from earlier. He didn’t notice Miles, but looked right at Klohin. “What do you have for me today, kit?” he asked, voice cold. Klohin winced and Miles watched as he carefully held out the Ruby and Peridot Shards to the elderly man._

_“Master Ghonis, I bring you these two Shards, which I have found.” Klohin said, keeping his head down but rising from the bow holding the Shards out to the man, Ghonis._

_Miles felt his stomach turn as he realized that he was witnessing an important event in the history of his people, something that no one else had ever known about before then. He shook his head carefully, to clear it so he could pay attention._

_Ghonis snatched the Shards away from Klohin and examined them closely. He smiled, but it was a very cold, calculating smile. To Miles, he didn’t seem like much of a hero. “Good job, kit.” Ghonis said, turning away from Klohin with the Shards. Klohin visibly relaxed, like he’d been more than a little nervous about handing the Shards over. That’s when he caught a glimpse of Miles. Panic flew into his eyes at once._

_“What are you doing here?” he mouthed, clearly flustered by the yellow-orange kit’s presence._

_“I followed you, sorry.” Miles mouthed back, pointing toward Ghonis, who was about to turn around. Klohin returned his gaze to the floor right in front of Ghonis’ feet, but Miles could see how mad he was._ ‘That’s what you get for not telling me everything,’ _he thought, watching carefully._

_“This is great, thank you. Really, I should reward you for your efforts, Klohin. You’re not a bad servant, after all, though you are a bit slow for my tastes.” Ghonis laughed a little and shook his head. “No, no… Really though, without you, this wouldn’t be possible. My power is growing at a steady pace thanks to these Shards you’re finding for me. Soon I’ll be ready…”_

_“Ready?” Klohin asked. The look on his face told Miles that he already knew, but was playing dumb so that he could be privy to extra information._

_“How many times do I have to tell you, idiot kit! This entire island will cease to exist if they don’t give in to me! And that wretched Prower family… Find them too, will you!? I haven’t got all year, and you’re the one who let them get away in the first place!” Ghonis slapped Klohin, hard, across the face and Klohin went flying, landing in a heap right next to Miles’ hiding place before the entire scene faded from view._

 

Miles blinked a few times and sighed, staring at the clouds passing over the clearing where he’d acquired the Silver Shard. He hadn’t wanted to think it, but now it was out there. Klohin was helping Ghonis collect the Shards for some evil plot to destroy the island.

“Something wrong?” Celina asked, lying next to Miles to enjoy the clouds.

“I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“Ghonis is a lie. The great hero is a common thief.” Miles rolled onto his side to look at Celina. “And he’s a twin-tail.”

“I’m sorry Tails. I wish you’d found out something better than that.” Celina said, looking over at him. “There’s something else too, isn’t there?” she asked, seeing the look on the twin-tailed kit’s face.

“Yeah. All of this has to do with my family as well, and I don’t know what to think of it. I mean, all I’ve ever known is people making fun of me and hating me because I’m different, but what if it was something else? I mean, I’ve always been good in classes, I’m a few levels ahead of the other’s my age, and I’ve always known that the people who make fun of me all the time aren’t even worth my time. I didn’t ever pay much attention to them and, now that I think about it, maybe they thought that I thought I was better than them? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to think, Celina.”

“I don’t know either, Tails.” Celina sighed. There were a lot of things that she wanted and even needed to tell Tails, but she wasn’t sure it was time yet, and she didn’t want to risk it too early. Everything was coming to pass the way she’d been told though, and she knew she was nearly out of time to decide.

“Could it be… Ghonis is the one who destroyed my entire species?” Miles looked back to the sky, wanting badly to be able to prove that the Shards were lying.

Celina swallowed hard and turned her gaze skyward again. _‘Soon.’_ She thought. _‘Really soon Tails, I promise.’_


	11. 10: Lower Polly Mountain

Once they’d finished talking about what Miles had seen, they decided that it would be a good idea to head back to the main island. It wouldn’t, after all, be a very good idea to still be on Green Island when the Armada finally got around to checking out the place. The two of them headed back through the dense forest to the submarine, which they climbed into effortlessly.

Miles piloted the Sea Fox back to the main island and they got back out. Only when they were back on dry land did he speak about his next destination. “Celina?” Miles spoke cautiously, as Celina had been completely silent for the entire ride back to the main island.

She looked up after a couple seconds, a smile plastered onto her face that Miles could tell was as fake as they come. “Yeah?” she asked.

“Are you okay?” Miles had been temporarily derailed from what he’d been thinking about. He was worried then that he’d done or said something to offend the only friend he’d ever had.

“I’m fine. What were you going to say?” Celina waved his concern off, continuing to smile in that fake way. There wasn’t anything he could do about it, he decided, so he just gave up for the moment.

“I want to go to the Caron Forest next. I just have this feeling that things will come together there.” He said, still watching her carefully even though there wasn’t anything he could do. She would have to tell him why was wrong on her own time.

“Sure. I just hope that one’s not on fire like Poloy’s.” She replied, turning away from him and heading up the small slope that led toward the Polly mountains again. Miles frowned and followed her easily.

A bit later they’d made it as far as the small caverns at the base of the mountains. Miles tripped and fell on their way into one of them and stayed on the ground for a few seconds. Then he sat up and shook his head. It was getting pretty late outside, and he knew that the two of them needed some sleep before they really got moving again. “Celina, why don’t we stop for a while?” he suggested as Celina made her way into the little cave as well.

At his words, the small squirrel fell back onto her behind, completely exhausted from the day. “That’s a great idea, Tails.” She called from her position on the ground. Miles laughed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t suggest we stop earlier at my house. It probably would have been a bit more comfortable than this cave.”

“Probably, but we would have likely been caught there. Here we’re probably safer.”

“Not in my workshop.” Miles frowned. Thinking about it, they would probably be better off to make their way back there to sleep anyway, but it didn’t seem like he was going to get Celina up again, so he just sighed. He pulled the Shards out of his chest fur and pulled the necklace over his head. Then he pulled his little robot out of his pack and opened a small compartment on it where he fitted the Shards inside with ease. The remote he tucked away in the palm of his glove. He just had this strange feeling that he was going to need the robot soon.

“That’s true…” Celina replied finally. It was very soft, and Miles heard her drift to sleep not long after that.

The young kit yawned and fell backwards where he closed his eyes and fell asleep as well.

 

“LET GO OF ME!” Miles woke up with a start, Celina’s shouting having roused him. He went to look over at her to tell her to be quiet when a hand clasped itself over his mouth and someone tied a blindfold over his eyes. He struggled, but whoever it was picked him up with relative ease. They hadn’t accounted for his tails though, and Miles used that to his advantage, spinning them quickly and falling to the ground when his captor released him, startled.

The young kit reached up at once and removed the blindfold so he could see what was going on. Celina had been thrown over the shoulder of an Armada member and was being hauled farther into the cave as Miles sat there and looked things over. His pack was missing as well as his robot, but he wasn’t worried about that. The Bird that he’d startled with his tails was recovering quickly and, though Miles had a head start, caught the kit again rather easily, wrapping a cord around his tails this time. “Don’t you be trying’ that again!” he said, glaring at the kit before tying the blindfold over his eyes again and hauling him off the ground like Celina.

Miles had no idea how long he was stuck over the shoulder of the Bird, but when he was finally able to remove the blindfold he found himself in a much deeper cave, closed behind bars once again. Celina was in the same cell, but in a smaller box so that she couldn’t just slide through the bars.

They remain silent for a little bit, waiting on the noise of the Birds to quiet down before they tried to speak with one another. Finally it was quiet and Miles sighed deeply. “You okay?” he asked her, peering not the little box, a worried expression on his face.

Celina groaned a bit from inside the box and called out “I’m fine, just a bit sore.” Miles felt relief wash over him and sat down next to Celina’s little box.

“What happened?” he asked, wondering how much of it she knew.

“I don’t know. One second I was sleeping and the next second I was hoisted over someone’s shoulder. Tails, where are the Shards!?” Celina was panicking, it seemed. She hadn’t seen Miles remove them from his person before because she’d fallen asleep too fast.

“They should be safe. I need to see if the robot will work from here…” Miles slid the little remote from his glove and turned it on. The screen was fuzzy for a few minutes while the remote scanned for the robot. Miles sighed and shook his head. “Looks like it’s no use…” he said, setting the remote aside and freeing Celina from her box. He pulled the cord off of his own tails and waved them around a bit as well, releasing the cramps in the muscles.

“Are you sure they won’t find them?” Celina asked, worrying more than Miles like she always did.

“Positive.” He replied. The remote beeped quietly and Miles picked it up at once. “Yes! It found the robot!” he said, staring at the screen. The robot, it seemed, was somewhere else in the tunnels. “Rock is thick, so it can’t be that far away.” Miles said, maneuvering the camera on the little robot so that he could better see it’s surroundings. It looked to be in a little room that guards in a prison would use.

He could see other cells with the same kind of bars that theirs had, so he steered the little robot in that direction. The robot moved along easily, having been made for exactly that kind of thing. After a little bit, Miles and Celina could hear it moving along the hall of their cell. Finally, after what felt like forever, the little robot crossed through the bars of their cell and Miles raced over to it, where he collected the Shards from inside of it.

“Told you they wouldn’t find them.” He said, sticking his tongue out at Celina.

Celina laughed. “Yeah, yeah.” Grinning, Celina slipped through the bars of their cell and disappeared. Miles wasn’t worried and, as he’d thought, she came racing back down the tunnel a few minutes later with the keys. Quickly she opened the door of the cell and let Miles out. “There you go.” She said, tucking the keys into her pocket instead of leaving them there.

Miles placed the necklace back around his neck then and headed out of the cell, picking up his little remote robot along the way. He didn’t want to leave it behind, especially not after how useful it had been.

From the cells, they headed out along the main passageway of the tunnel, which they suspected was part of the network underneath the Polly Mountains above. After a long walk, during which they met several of the Armada robots but no actual Birds, they emerged into the bright sunlight of a new day. Looking around they found that they were, indeed, along the base of the mountains.

To top it all off, they weren’t even that far from the Caron Forest.


	12. 11: Caron Forest

The two young furries run along the outer edge of the cliff towards the Caron Forest. When they arrive at a drop point where they can climb down the cliff, Celina stops them. “Tails, you’re not going into the forest this time.” She said, staring at the forest in question. Miles stared at her for a moment before responding.

“Why not? I’ll bet the next Shard is in there, and I can’t get it if I don’t go in!” he protested. Celina smiled but shook her head.

“The last time you were exposed to that much smoke, you passed out. My systems work a little faster than yours because they’re smaller, so the smoke doesn’t linger and affect me as fast.” Celina started down the cliff without waiting for a response.

Miles, realizing she was going to leave without him no matter what, pulled the Shards out of his chest fur. “Hey!” he called, swinging them over his head so she’d see them. Celina immediately went back to him.

“What?” she asked, not yet realizing what he was saying.

“You’ll need one of these if you’re going to find the Shard on your own.” Miles said, pulling one of the Shards off of the necklace and handing it to her. Celina took it, a smile on her face.

“Thanks. I’m sure this’ll make things a lot easier.” She said, turning around again and heading down the cliff.

She crossed into the forest with no problems, going immediately for the treetops, the Shard in her hand leading her way. Silently she passed over five or six Birds, who were never aware of her presence. She stuck her tongue out at them all and did things like make sure to drop nuts or sticks onto their heads as she passed them. All of them looked up, but none of them saw her and she laughed.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she saw what she was looking for as one of the Birds was locking it away inside a crate. The Sapphire Shard. Celina stared at it for a moment, wondering how she was supposed to get to it when it was that well guarded. Suddenly she got an idea. Grinning like mad, she made her way back out of the forest to where Miles was waiting for her.

"Tails!" she called, climbing her way back up the cliff as quick as her little arms and legs would take her. Miles looked over eagerly, thinking that she had the next Shard with her. He was sorely disappointed to see only the glow of the old Shard when she waved at him.

"What?" he asked as she came to a stop right in front of him.

"They have the Shard here..." she said, trying to catch her breath from the mad dash up the cliff. Thinking back, she had no idea why she'd climbed it that fast.

"Where?" Miles was ready to go at once, just as she'd expected him to be. She shook her head and held up a hand, indicating that he should wait a moment for her to catch her breath.

Once she'd caught her breath again, she looked up at him. "In the heart of the forest, but I have an idea." she said, a sly grin on her face.

Miles stared. "Yeah?" he prompted, wanting her to continue.

"You can fly over the forest and distract them and, while they're paying attention to you, I can sneak into their little camp and take the Shard from the crate. They'll never know it's gone and we won't have to suffer another loss."

Miles thought about it for a moment before responding in any way. "If I get caught, you have to come rescue me." he said, thinking about the possibility that he could, indeed, be captured through this plan. He wasn't sure if he could really trust her, as they'd never had an occurrence for her to rescue him yet.

"Tails, even if I didn't like you right now I'd rescue you if you got caught. Especially if it was because of my plan. Besides, I owe you how many rescue missions at this point?" she replied after a moment's hesitation.

Miles laughed a little. "That's true, I guess." he said at last and nodded. "Yeah, this could work."

"Good. Fly that way..." Celina pointed him in a direction that would take him right over the heart of the forest before she took off back down the cliff and into the forest again. When she reached the small clearing where the Shard was, she turned her eyes skyward, waiting to see Miles flying overhead. Not long after she arrived, he was there, twirling in the air and doing all sorts of things to get the Bird's attention.

What neither of them had been counting on was the net that swiftly flew up and captured Miles as Celina was sneaking over to the crate.  
She was already right near it, so she pulled it open and took the Shard anyway, getting back up a tree just in time for the Birds to come through the clearing on their way to retrieve the captured kit. They trudged back through the little camp a few minutes later, Miles held firmly between them, his tails wrapped so he couldn't get away.

They had apparently heard about him from the other Birds.

Celina followed them as they wound their way through the woods. They tried to go in a zigg zagg pattern to lose anyone following, but she wasn't fooled, keeping pace with them easily atop the trees. Finally, after a long trek through the forest they came to a small structure. Celina wasn't really sure it could be called a building, since it only had three walls but they went inside anyway. A small branch stuck in past the tarp they'd used to keep the water, and critters, out, so Celina snuck inside to see what they were doing with her friend.

Inside, she saw that they had pulled Miles along to the center of the room where there were pieces that could be used to make a cage. Slowly they tied him into a new cage that wasn't even big enough for him to stand up in. Once he was secured and they were certain that he wouldn't be able to get away without some serious outside help, they left him. Not even one of them stayed behind and Celina had to suppress a laugh at that. It was just simply stupid for them to leave their prisoner completely unguarded, but they were apparently doing it.

When she was positive that the Birds were gone, Celina snuck back outside and climbed down the tree. Then she went right back inside and up to the new cage in the center of the room. "Well that's not very nice of them, is it?" she said, coming right up to Miles stuck as he was in his natural cage.

"Did you really think they'd be nice?" he replied sarcastically.

"Nah, but it doesn't hurt to hope? Anyway, they're idiots, leaving you alone out here." Celina set to work on the bindings of the cage, which were vines that had been cut from various trees out in the forest. She chewed her way through enough of them that Miles could break out of the cage on his own and then she set to work on the ones they'd tied around his wrists. Her jaws were going to hurt later, she knew, but that didn't really matter in the end. Getting Miles out was way more important.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a few minutes of her chewing on the vines.

"Fine." she replied, stopping for just a moment.

Finally the vines snapped and Miles could use his hands freely again. Celina rubbed her jaw and handed him the Sapphire Shard as well as the one she'd borrowed earlier.


	13. 12: Sapphire Memories

The Sapphire Shard, unlike all of the others, felt warm in Miles’ hand, as though it had more life-energy than the others had. Miles wondered about this for a moment, looking first at the Shard and then at Celina. He looked back at the Shard and set to work, putting the small hole in it so he could attach it to his necklace like all the others. It was getting to be a very monotonous task so, when he finally put it on the necklace, he was expecting the same flash as always. Naturally, he was shocked when, instead of the basic white flash, the shards flashed blue.

 

_Instead of finding himself in some unfamiliar place in the distant past, Miles found himself in his own house many years before it was his. He blinked a few times, startled, before even attempting to look around or move at all. What he saw when he did finally look around him was something that nearly stopped his heart._

_In a chair by the built-in book shelf sat a man that Miles would have recognized from quite a bit farther away. As it was, he was right next to the chair. Amadeus Prower sat there quietly, reading a book, looking as happy and healthy as the last day Miles saw him. Unaware of his actions, Miles took a couple tentative steps forward and made to touch his father. Before he could test the boundaries of the sapphire memory however, the door burst in, nearly coming off its hinges, and another man entered._

_“You have them, don’t you?” Ghonis entered the house, glaring dangerously at Miles’ father. Amadeus simply closed his book and looked up, an odd expression on his face._

_“Just what are you talking about? And why did you nearly break my door?” he asked in a very quizzical voice._

_“You know damn well what I’m talking about Amadeus! The shards! You have them, and I want you to give them to me. NOW.” Ghonis was livid, clearly already upset about something that was, likely, unrelated._

_Amadeus smiled softly and shook his head. “I know nothing of the whereabouts of the Chaos Shards, Ghonis, as I have told you a hundred times. Perhaps you should go and look for them in the forest?” Amadeus moved to return to his book, and Ghonis nearly lost it._

_“You are lying to me, Prower! I know it!” he shouted, taking the book from Amadeus and throwing it against a wall. Amadeus didn’t get up or even move._

_“Ghonis, you are mistaken. I really don’t know anything about the Shards’ whereabouts.” For all of Ghonis’ rage, Amadeus spoke calmly. This, Miles saw, only served to enrage Ghonis further._

_Completely enraged and lost in his own mind, Ghonis grabbed Amadeus by the collar of his shirt and heaved him from the house, a scared Miles trailing invisibly after them. Once outside, Ghonis produced a self-lighting torch which lit up at his command. “Fine! Don’t tell me! If you don’t, however, I will not hesitate to burn off all of your fur and completely decimate your house!” he said, holding the torch close enough for Amadeus to feel the heat of the flames. Miles, the poor kit, whimpered quietly, afraid for his father, but unable to do anything at all to help him._

_“I don’t know anything, Ghonis!” Amadeus shouts, trying to make Ghonis see reason. It doesn’t work and Ghonis throws him to the ground, stepping on his tail to keep him down._

_“Fine then! See if I care!?” he said, placing the lit torch against Amadeus’ tail fur until it ignited._

_Amadeus stared at the flames in horror for a moment before a splash of water was heard. Quite suddenly Amadeus was soaking wet and Ghonis was cursing, his self-lighting torch ruined. Klohin stood by the shore, a small bucket held in one hand, clearly recently used, and the other hand in his pocket. “Stop it, Ghonis! You said we wouldn’t hurt anyone, remember?” he said, pulling his hand out of his pocket and holding up three of the Chaos Shards that he’d found. Miles stared, after looking his dad over to make sure he was okay. Ghonis looked at Klohin for a moment before kicking Amadeus away from him and grabbing for the Shards in Klohin’s raised hand._

_Klohin pulled his hand back right in time, causing Ghonis to curse._

 

The scene, though barely begun, faded out then. Miles found himself lying on his back, staring straight above him. Celina was looking down at him, a curious expression on her face. “Tails, what did you see?” she asked, wiping tears from his face.

Miles stood up right away and rubbed his eyes, not really able to speak yet. Celina insisted. “I need to know what you saw, Tails. This is important.”

Miles shook his head. “I saw my dad…” he said at last, staring straight ahead.


	14. 13: Celina's Secret

Celina watched the kit closely for a few minutes while he simply sat there in shock. Like he’d seen a ghost. ‘To be fair, he feels like he has…’ she thought, sighing. “Tails, I really need to tell you something. It’s important.” She said at last, poking the young kit to make sure he heard her.

“Yeah, okay.” He said vaguely. Celina shook him a bit and repeated herself before he answered completely. “What? Oh, okay. We can go to what’s left of my house. They’ve already ransacked it anyway. They won’t be there anymore.” He said, finally aware of where he was again.

Celina nodded and the two of them took off across the island once more. They came upon the small house a while later, the door still kicked in and things still smashed and thrown around everywhere. They went inside and found a place to sit and talk. Celina made sure to sit across from Miles so that he had to look at her. The kit’s blue eyes still seemed startled after the sapphire memory, but Celina knew she didn’t have the time to let him get over that shock. Her secret was something she should have told him about before they ever started looking for the shards.

“Are you okay?” she asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t going to cause any more harm to the kit’s already fragile psyche.

“No, but I’ll get over it.” Miles said. He smiled as well as he could to let her know that she could talk to him.

“Alright…” Celina sighed. “I’m sure you remember the day your parents disappeared?” she started. Miles’ eyes widened when she mentioned that day, but he didn’t say anything about it. Celina continued. “Well, so do I. The day your parents disappeared was a gorgeous day in the forest. I was gathering nuts for my family when I came across the two of them talking in the forest. They were talking about what seemed like nonsense at the time, and I started to leave. ‘Wait!’ your father called to me. I stopped to talk to them and found out that they were talking about an attack that was going to happen on the island. They told me about you, and about the shards of the Chaos Emeralds that are here on the island.

“They told me that they were going to leave soon, and they asked me to keep an eye on you, and make sure that you knew what to do when the attack happened here.” Celina stopped and watched Miles carefully for a few moments. “You okay?” she asked again.

“You… You’re really telling the truth, aren’t you?” he said. “You really talked to them?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t lie to you, Tails.”

“And they really told you about all of this?”

“Yes.”

“Why wouldn’t they have told me?”

“You would have wanted to go with them. You wouldn’t have understood back then. Tails, don’t you know what this means?” Celina watched him meaningfully.

“What….?” Miles was very clearly not thinking.

“They’re still alive Tails!” she said, grinning broadly. “Your parents are still out there somewhere!”

Miles stared for a few moments. He didn’t say anything at all.

“Anyway, I came to you because they asked me to. They told me that you would need someone to help you when the time came, and that you wouldn’t be able to do it alone. It’s not that they didn’t believe in you. They do believe in you, trust me. They just knew that it would be hard to do without a friend. I don’t know where they went, Tails, but I know where we need to go next. We have six of the seven emerald shards, and the last one hasn’t been on the island for a long time according to your dad. Your parents told me that it would be in the fortress of the BBA. They also warned me that you would need to have that shard before you went to face the leader of the BBA. And you will have to face him.” She added when Miles shook his head.

“No. I won’t do it.” He said finally. “I was wrong. This is too much. I can’t do it. This isn’t for me.” He said, pulling the necklace off and tossed it into the next room. “I’m going to stay here. You can do it.”

“Tails, come on…” Celina sighed, picking up the shards of the emeralds that Miles had tossed aside.

“I’m serious, Celina. And stop calling me Tails.” Miles curled into a little ball and refused to look up or move. Celina frowned.

“Listen, I know I should have told you all of this before, but you have to understand that I didn’t know how important it all was back then. I could have told you this months ago if I’d thought it would amount to anything.”

“They weren’t crazy.”

“What?”

“You’re saying that you thought my parents were crazy. They weren’t crazy.”

“Well, no. Of course they weren’t crazy.” Celina shook her head. “But they did seem to think that you were the only one who would be able to do this. Tails, you can do this you know. You’re so close…” Celina held out the necklace for him to take.

Miles stared at the necklace for a long time before taking it and refastening it around his neck, hiding the shards in his chest fur as he had been doing all this time. “I don’t know…. What about them? Where are they now?”

“I don’t know, Tails. They didn’t tell me where they were going. All they told me was that they would find you again in the future. They said that they would wait for you to find them.”

Miles remained still for quite a while before he got up suddenly and walked to the open doorway. “At least they escaped.” He said at last, leaving the remains of his home behind once more.


	15. 14: The Final Shard

Miles followed Celina’s lead all the way to the Battle Fortress of the BBA. When they got there, they found tons of resistance, so they had to find a secure hiding spot. When they found a good spot, Miles set to work immediately. He set out the little remote robot once more and pulled out some tools. He began modifying the little robot right there.

They stayed there for so long that Celina was starting to wonder if there was something really wrong with her friend. He didn’t talk to her, and she could understand why he might still be upset with her, but she was starting to really get worried when he suddenly stopped what he was doing and pulled the remote out for the little robot and started messing with that. He was changing the remote with the robot, which just made Celina curious enough to ask. “What are you doing?”

“I’m making him able to search this place without us. I mean, not without us, but with less assistance. If he comes to an obstacle, I should be able to guide him around or through it from where we stand rather than going there myself and moving things around for him.” Miles said. He stood up, leaving his tools and things on the ground with the little robot, and used the remote to guide the robot through the little opening next to them that led farther into the fortress.

A new screen on the remote lit up and Celina saw that this was how Miles could see what the little robot saw. Miles let it expertly through the fortress, checking every room without alerting anyone or anything to their presence. After narrowly missing discovery in a few more rooms, Miles finally located the final shard. It was stuck right between two of the machines right in the middle of the fortress. Miles frowned at the little screen as he tried fruitlessly to pry the little shard from it’s hiding place. “I can’t get it.” He said a few seconds later, looking at the little screen with a deep frown on his face.

“I guess we’ll have to go get it ourselves.” Celina said, grinning.

“Yeah? You have fun with that. Didn’t you see all those members walking around!? We’ll never get to the shard!”

“Oh stop that. You weren’t so negative before I told you about your parents. What’s so different now?” Celina glared at Miles for a few seconds before she took off around the corner, narrowly avoiding capture by the two guards that saw her pass by. They paid attention to her for just long enough for Miles to sneak by and join her around the next corner.

“What were you thinking!?” he asked incredulously when he reached her. Celina laughed.

“I was thinking that this was the direction your little robot went to find the shard, so this is the direction that we should go.” She replied seconds later. Once she was done talking, she poked her head around the next corner and motioned for Miles to follow her before she darted out into the open once more. Miles, despite his earlier complaints, followed her out and around the next few bends. They didn’t have anymore narrow misses like the first one until they were just a few twists away from the shard. Just as Celina started to go around a new bend without checking for BBA members, Miles grabbed her tail to hold her back. She squealed with shock before she realized that it was just Miles and the next sound they heard was thundering footsteps on all sides.

Miles, without thinking at all, took to the air, carrying Celina along with him, and they watched the scene unfold from above. Three members of the BBA converged on the very spot where they had been standing only moments before. The two young furries had a hard time keeping their giggles silent as the members of the BBA looked around, clearly dumbstruck. They had heard a girl screech, and yet all they found was each other? What was going on?

After a few minutes of scratching their heads, the members of the BBA turned and headed back to their earlier posts, allowing Miles to land at last, huffing for air. He’d never had to hover for that long before, and he hadn’t been sure that he would be able to sustain it like that. “That’s why you look before you leap!” he said between gasps for air.

“Yeah, but that was hysterical!” Celina giggled quietly, still amused by the stupid looks on the birds’ faces. Miles couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah, it was.” He agreed, taking her place and looking around the corner before darting out and around the last few bends. Finally he could see his little robot ahead and he knew that they’d made it. Even though he’d been pretty negative about it, he felt pretty good for having made it that far, and there was a wide grin on his face when they approached the remote robot. “Here it is…” Miles said, looking between the machines and spotting the final Shard. He reached a hand in but just barely couldn’t reach it. With a sigh, he pulled his hand free. “I can’t get it. I can get close, but I just can’t wrap my fingers around it… Do you think you could—“

“Already on it.” Celina cut him off mid sentence as she darted between the machines with ease, her small stature an advantage once more. Miles watched as she reached the Shard and pulled it free before flipping around and heading back out. He didn’t notice when she got scratched by a jagged piece of metal on the way out, but she flinched slightly and looked at the small cut on her shoulder as she handed him the Shard. “Ow.” She said simply, rubbing at it for a minute before shrugging and watching Miles.


	16. 15: Amber Memories

Miles, meanwhile, was far too focussed on the Shard to notice his friends’ cut. He pulled his tools from the remote robot again and drilled the little hole in the last Shard. Then he put the tools away and carefully pulled the necklace out of his chest fur and opened it up one final time, stringing the final Shard into place and letting it brush against the others briefly.  
The resulting flash was blinding, and Miles wouldn’t have known where he was even if he’d still been in the fortress of the BBA when he opened his eyes.

 

_Miles found himself again on the beach, the same scene spread out before him as though he’d never left. Klohin held the last three Shards in his hand and Ghonis was trying desperately to get them away from the younger kit. Amadeus watched carefully for a few seconds before speaking to Klohin. “Give them to me.” He said, holding out a hand. Klohin grinned but didn’t listen to him, instead giving him only one, the aquamarine._

_Ghonis leapt at Amadeus, trying to clamp a hand around the Shard, but Amadeus ran for the seaside. Moments later, one of Ghonis’ people tackled him to the ground and took the shard from him._

_At the same moment, Klohin is forced to release his two shards and the two guys take their newly gained pretties right to Ghonis._   
_Ghonis laughed an evil cackle, the entire island becoming engulfed in a red haze from some clearly evil intent that Ghonis had for its destruction._

 

Quite suddenly Miles was ripped from the memory. Someone was jerking him around in all sorts of directions, though he couldn’t see anything. Everything was black and, until he is forcefully thrown into a cell, Miles had no idea that he’d been captured and dragged away in the fortress while he was viewing the final memory, the final piece of the puzzle.


	17. 16: Finale

Miles looked around some, completely dazed from the Amber memory. He wasn’t completely sure where he was or why he wasn’t seeing the memory anymore. An ear-splitting scream broke him out of his dazed state and he looked around frantically for the source. Finally, after a few minutes of searching, he found it. The source of the scream was the cell across the hall from his.

The only person in that cell was Celina.

“Celina!” Miles shouted, looking through the bars at his friend. She was all tensed up and clenching her hands into fists, curled in on herself. And she looked very ill. Miles frowned. He didn’t want to see her like that. “What’s wrong?” he asked, not understanding what had happened.

“N… Nothing… I’m fine…” Celina spoke weakly, struggling to uncurl and look at Miles normally. Miles frowned and watched her, desperately trying to figure out a way to help her. It was already very clear that she’d been poisoned somehow, though he couldn’t think how it would have happened.

“… No, you’re not…” he muttered, shaking his head. He wasn’t really sure how to do it, but he knew he would have to find a way to help her. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure this out…!” he yelled across to her. She laughed in response, shaking her head.

“It’s fine, Tails. Just… get those shards back!” she shuddered and collapsed, looking very pale.

Miles stared across at her for a long moment before standing up and making his way over to the bars of his prison cell. He looked at them and laughed a little, amazed that there didn’t seem to be any guards posted. The bars were so far apart that a kid like himself could fit through easily, and he was out in no time, looking around for signs of his remote robot. He found it before too long and, after checking that all of its features were working, used it to locate his bag. When he found out where it was, he snuck through the fortress quietly to retrieve it, shocked to find that there were no guards around it either, though all of his equipment was still inside.

With a big grin on his face, Miles wasted no time, pulling things out and setting to work on his little robot. It needed a way to carry things back to him if it was going to be any use here, and that was exactly what he was going to make it capable of. When he was finished with the modifications to the robot itself, he started to program the remote to make it work properly, which took longer than the original modifications but would be well worth it in the end, or so he hoped.

When everything was ready, the young kit settled into a hiding place and began the trek, as the robot, through the fortress, eavesdropping on conversations and looking in every room to find his emerald shards. Finally, he found a small room where there were a couple BBA members talking. “Those shards are weird, you know?” one of them said, making Miles stop the robot in the shadows and focus on them.

“How so?” came the reply.

“Well… You know how he wants someone holding them at all times?”

“Yeah?”

“Its technically my turn now… but I can’t stand to touch them. It’s like they suck everything out of me…”

“What? Where are they then, I want to see this…”

“They’re in the other room there, on the little table, but don’t tell anyone I let you see them, or…” Miles didn’t hear anymore, making the little robot roll right into the adjoining room where the shards were supposed to be.

They were there, right where the other guy had said they were. And the table was short enough for the little robot to reach up and grab them, storing them in it’s little comportment and hiding as the two BBA members entered the room. “Dude, I knew you were lying to me! You’ve never even SEEN them, have you!?” the one who wanted to see them got angry and rounded on the other, who was clearly shocked that his precious cargo had vanished. Miles laughed from his safe hiding place far away from them, and sat back to watch as they searched for them, failing to find them OR the little robot, and eventually vacating the room to inform the higher ups. This worried Miles, and he made the little robot come back to him just as fast as he could without getting caught.

Just as he was taking the shards from the little robot, he heard someone coming for his hiding spot. He left the shards where they were to peek out and see what was happening. Something grabbed one of his tails and swung him up in a high arc and he saw, before he came crashing down in a painful heap, that it was the leader of the BBA. At least, that was all Miles could think of before he was slammed onto the ground. He watched in horror as the man before him moved toward the little robot. “Did you really think I would make it that easy?” he said, descending on the robot dramatically.

“Did you?” Miles gasped, pressing some buttons on his still-firmly-held remote, sending the robot veering away from the bird. He gave a short growl of rage and turned on Miles, who was gathering up the little robot and readying himself to run.

“Just who are you, kid?”

“Just a kid who loves his home…” Miles frowned, wondering how much time he had before the bird came at him for the shards.

“A kid who loves his home huh? Well I’m Karnak, and I’m here for those shards. If you love your home so much, you’ll give them to me.” The sleek, black-feathered body of Karnak came toward him slowly. “And I wouldn’t try running… You won’t get very far.” Miles looked to the doorways.

It seemed his time was up. “Sorry robo…” he muttered as he pulled the shards from its little claw and threw it as hard as he could at Karnak. The bird simply batted it away and lunged for the kit.

A strange thing had happened to Miles when he’d touched the seven shards though. He was glowing very bright, as though he were covered in flames. Karnak didn’t have time to right himself before he was on Miles, bouncing back and stumbling a few steps before getting himself righted. He screamed in agony as he burned alive, right in front of Miles. The other birds fled, the sight of their burning master too much to handle.

It was too much for Miles as well, being only ten. He curled into a ball on the ground, not watching or thinking about it, visibly shaken and wanting nothing more than a comforting touch.  
Celina.

It went through his head suddenly, about five minutes later and he knew he still had work to do. Forcing himself to stand, the small kit made his way back to the cells where he’d left her. Not even thinking about what he was doing, he pushed the door to her cell open, breaking the latch with ease, and knelt down beside her unmoving figure. She was breathing very fast and shallow, and it was clear that she was dying. Miles took her hand and prayed for her to make it, hoped beyond hope. It was his fault she was there in the first place. Karnak’s death he could handle, but if he had to deal with hers as well… He didn’t know what he would do.

Minutes passed and Miles’ fur faded back to it’s original hue, the shards completely drained. Celina’s hand fell from Miles’ in silence, her chest not moving anymore.


	18. Epilogue

In the town square a few days after the departure of the remaining birds, a service was held honoring the Kit that saved the island. Miles stood, Celina at his side, as the once-hostile inhabitants awarded him the Chaos Shards to keep, as well as refurnishing his house. Now he sat with Celina, who had woken up just a few minutes after the glow had faded completely from his fur. He felt like the hero that he was, and he never wanted that feeling to leave him, but staying on Cocoa Island wouldn’t work for that. He’d long since decided that he would try to find the Blue Blur. “Sonic? Are you for real, Tails? You’d never be able to keep up with the Blur!” Celina chuckled.

“I would too! I have these!” he swirled his tails in a fan-like motion toward her, the wind whipping her hair around.

“Yeah, right. Well, I’ve heard rumors that he’s recently arrived on Westside Island. If you really want to meet him, now might be your best chance.” She replied, shaking her head.

“Yeah…. I think I will.” Miles grinned brightly, looked at his shards, and stood up. He made his way over to his brand-new bed and pulled out the same little pack he’d worn throughout their adventure. Inside was his little robot and all the things to fix it or modify it, as well as some essential first-aid things. He pulled the pack on and headed toward his door.

“Hey, wait!” Celina followed him outside and to the docks. “You’re really going?” she asked, a little confused by his sudden decision.

“Yeah, I am. This place… It’s where I grew up. It’s where I had a family and lost it. It’s where I met my first friend and we had an adventure. This place is all of those things, but it’s not my home. I feel it inside, Celina. Something else is out there for me, and I can’t find it if I refuse to take risks. So I’m gonna go find Sonic.” He replied, turning away from her. He was just about to jump into the air when she grabbed one of his tails.

“Take me with you!” she said, a determined look on her face. Miles smiled and bent down a little so she could climb onto his back.

“I’d like that.” He said. She grinned and jumped on, settling onto his shoulders with ease. “You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Hold on!” Miles flew into the air then, and they left Cocoa Island far behind.


End file.
